How Many Scream Movies Are There? All 7 Films in Order

Seven Scream movies have been made and released in theaters, running from Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven, to Scream 7 (2026), directed by Kevin Williamson. All seven belong to the main saga and none is a theatrical spin-off, so the franchise stands at seven films plus zero spin-offs. A Scream 8 is in development, but it has no director and no date, so it sits outside the count for now. If you are new to the series, the scream movies hub is the quickest way in, and the scream movies in order page sets out the viewing sequence.

Grosses are worldwide figures from Box Office Mojo and The Numbers, and the full breakdown sits on the scream box office page.

Yes, but it is not called Scream 5: the fifth film is Scream (2022), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, which reuses the title of the 1996 original. That is why a film called Scream always needs its year, since Scream (1996) and Scream (2022) are two different movies. The numbering then changes again, because the sixth film is styled Scream VI with a Roman numeral and the seventh goes back to a plain Arabic numeral as Scream 7. Anyone searching for "Scream 5" is looking for the 2022 film, which picks up twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders with Sam and Tara Carpenter at the center.

Wes Craven directed the first four films, which means he was behind the camera for 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2011. The first three arrived within about four years of each other, and then came an eleven year gap before Scream 4 landed in April 2011, set fifteen years after the first Woodsboro killings. That film was also the weakest earner of the run at about $97 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. After another eleven years, the saga returned with a new directing pair and a new lead in Melissa Barrera as Sam Carpenter, then passed to Williamson for the seventh film. It is a bit like a long running television series changing showrunners: the mask and the phone call stay, while the people around them rotate.

Neve Campbell, as Sidney Prescott, appears in six of the seven films, and she was top billed in 1996, in Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4 and Scream 7. She is not in Scream VI, which followed a reported pay dispute. Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers is credited in 1996, Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4, Scream (2022) and Scream 7, and David Arquette as Dewey Riley is in the first five films. The anonymous killer in the costume, Ghostface, is the one constant, though the voice on the phone is credited to Roger L. Jackson in the 1996 film and again in Scream (2022), Scream VI and Scream 7. For the full ensemble, see the scream characters and scream cast pages.

The original run was four films, from 1996 to 2011, all directed by Craven. Scream (1996) moved from a working title of Scary Movie to a $15 million shoot in northern California and went on to gross $173 million worldwide. Scream 2 cost $24 million and nearly matched it, and Scream 3 shifted the story to Hollywood on a $40 million budget. Scream 4 closed that run in 2011. The films from Scream (2022) onward each bring back returning characters alongside a new group of teenagers.

Scream 8 is in development at Spyglass, so it is the next film but not yet one of the seven. TheWrap reported on March 31, 2026 that Lilla and Nora Zuckerman are writing it, and that no greenlight, director or release date had been set. On November 2, 2026 TheWrap also reported that Neve Campbell told the AP she will be in the film, that Kevin Williamson is reported as a producer, and that a new director is to be hired. An earlier claim from a fan magazine, that the film was greenlit for an Atlanta shoot and an early 2027 release, has been contradicted by this later reporting and remains unconfirmed. Full status sits on the scream 8 page, with the scream 8 trailer page ready if footage ever appears.

Release order and chronological order are the same for all seven Scream films, which makes the franchise simpler than most sagas to start. The scream timeline covers how the stories connect. If you want an opinion on which entry is strongest, the scream movies ranked page picks sides, and where to watch scream lists the services in the US, UK and Australia. Collectors can browse scream merchandise, and the scream soundtrack page covers the scores, which Marco Beltrami wrote for the first four films and Scream 7, and Brian Tyler for Scream (2022) and Scream VI.